Students Are Building A Robot For Disabled Cops Using The Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset

Thursday

Feb 27, 2014 at 12:01 AMFeb 27, 2014 at 10:14 AM

Dylan Love

Students at Florida International University are using the new Oculus Rift virtual reality headset as a controller for a law enforcement robot called TeleBot, reports VRFocus.

TeleBot is outfitted with two cameras that feed a live video to the operator wearing the Oculus Rift. A head-tracking system turns the robot's head in time with your own. The operator's arms and hands are fitted with sensors that detect the position of one's body, and the robot mimics it.

You move, it moves.

Ever seen the robot boxing movie Real Steel? Pretty much exactly like that.

The students' work is made possible by a $20,000 donation from Jeremy Robbins, a Navy Lieutenant interested in rehabilitative technology for disabled military veterans Robots like this may one day see injured military or law enforcement back in action in a much safer way.

The FIU students' TeleBot, named "Hutch," has been in a development for over a year and a half and has "some way to go before it can be considered for official use." Check out the video below to see the TeleBot in action.

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